The University of Michigan has been participating as a funded member of the Southwest Oncology Group (SWOG) since January 1, 1980. SWOG participation is an Important component of a large cancer research effort at U of M. We remain committed to the concept that multi-institutional collaboration is essential to the advancement of cancer research. On behalf of the University, Dr. Kenneth Pienta has received the first Team Science Award given by the American Association of Cancer Research (AACR) for the collaborative efforts of teams from the University of Michigan and Brigham and Women's Hospital (Boston, MA). Our goal, as a member institution of SWOG, is to make significant scientific, administrative and patient data contributions to the Group's effort to study and improve cancer therapy. The cooperative group process involves the collection of patient data, adoption of uniform toxicity and response criteria, and conduction of purposeful clinical trials as well as introducing the concept of merging "SPORES" ino the cooperative group mechanism. Cooperative groups have provided the only setting in which the sophisticated concepts of combined modality and adjuvant therapies can be properly Investigated. The cooperative groups have also produced an improved understanding of the Important relatioinships between prognostic factors, therapy and patient survival that could not have been obtained otherwise.